School Council

Our School Council represents the views of all our pupils. It gives children the opportunity to make their voices heard and feel part of the whole school community.

They organise events to raise money for the school and for charity. They help with interviewing new staff by preparing questions and giving feedback to the interview panel. Our School Council also help us to improve and develop our school through discussions about the opportunities we provide.

Academic Year 2017 - 2018

Our School Councillors for this year are...

We are sure that you will do a great job!

Term 2 - November 2017

Sam, Flora and Hal visited Swalecliffe Primary School to share their ideas about how Westmeads can further contribute to the work of the Coastal Alliance Cooperative Trust (CACoT). They had great fun meeting with the school councillors from other schools in Whitstable and Herne Bay. They even had time for a drink, a biscuit and a playtime!

We also found out about what the children think about the school meals at Westmeads and also discovering what the children really like about their school. This is so that the School Council can represent Westmeads at a School Parliament meeting on 30th November for the school councils from the Coastal Alliance Cooperative Trust (CACoT). We are looking forward to sharing our ideas and seeing what other schools say too!

Term 1 - September 2017

We began the year by congratulating our new members who were voted to represent their class. After being presented with their badges and talking about their roles, we voted for our first important decision. What would be the focus for the Children in Need event on Friday 17th November. To have some fun we voted on a 'Crazy Hair Day' with children (and staff) contributing at least £1 to this worthwhile charity.

We raised a fantastic £229.43 for Children in Need. Thank you for your donations!

Academic Year 2016 - 2017

Our School Council members 2016-17

Term 4 - March 2017

The School Council have written a letter asking for support for the ZANE (Zimbabwe: a National Emergency) Bring and Buy Sale, which is taking place on Friday, 10th June.

The School Council took a cheque for £532.17 to the Whitstable Umbrella Centre. This was a fantastic amount raised by the school children who took part in the Harvest Challenge.

Term 1 - September 2016

During Term 1 the new School Council were voted for by their classes. We met and talked about the things we really liked about Westmeads and the things that we thought could be even better!

The children also decided how we were going to raise money for Children in Need after half term. They had lots of great ideas like a 'wearing spots' day and a 'bring your teddy to school' day. However, it was put to the vote and the Council decided unanimously to have a 'wear your pyjamas to school' day!

Look for the photos and the amount raised in the 'Photo Gallery' section and on the class pages.

Academic Year 2015 - 2016

Term 4 - February 2016

Our new playground equipment arrived and we really enjoyed demonstrating how to use it safely and sensibly to the rest of the school. We really hope that everyone enjoys using it!

Term 3 - January 2016

This term we have been spending money! We had some money donated to us by a local estate agent and we also won £100 from Kent County Supplies. We have chosen some new toys and equipment for the playground. We had an exciting time unpacking them and will be telling the rest of the school about it in assembly.

Term 2 - November 2015

The Bring and Buy sale organised by the School Council to raise money for Children in Need was a great success. We had great fun bringing in our old books and toys and then buying some new ones. The sale raised a wonderful £308 to help children in the UK and across the world. Well done everybody!

The classes have chosen some new members of the School Council for this academic year. We have met to discuss what being a school councillor means and are busy planning our first fundraising event 'Children in Need.'

Academic Year 2014 - 2015

Term 5 and 6 2015

We helped to decide which design we liked best for the new playground trail. There were 3 designs to choose from.

We also wrote letters to thank Chris Cook for his visit and to the Rotary Club of Whitstable who kindly donated £1000 for our playground project!

This term we were involved in helping to interview new teachers for our school! We thought of questions we would like to ask and then met with each candidate to ask our questions. It was good fun and we are pleased to be involved in deciding who works in our school.

We also went to our Coastal Alliance 'School Council Parliament' at the Community College Whitstable. The theme was 'Understanding and Respecting Others' and we learnt all about other faiths and cultures and how important it is not to judge anyone by their religion, beliefs or on how they look.

It was great to be involved with other local schools but the best part was tasting all the foods from different countries. We especially liked the spicy Nigerian rice!

Term 3 January 2015

This term we looked at how we could improve our school grounds, especially the wooden trail. We hardly get to use it during the winter as it is so muddy! We have looked at some catalogues and selected some new equipment that we would like. Now we have to see what can fit in to the space and find the best new safe surface which stays mud-free.

The pictures below show us looking at the site.

Term 2 November 2014

This term we are thinking about which charities we would like to raise some money for and what our 'Children in Need' money raiser will be! Watch this space to find out more...

...the School Council met to decide on our theme for Children in Need and decided that they would like everyone to dress up as a 'Superhero!' They have written a letter to tell everyone all about it.

There are some pictures in the 'gallery' section; we had lots of fun!

Term 1 September 2014

Our new School Councillors for 2014/15 have been chosen. The first thing we did was have our photographs taken for the noticeboard and have a look around the school to decide what we really like and what we think could be improved.

We take back information from our meetings and discuss the ideas with our classes.

Academic Year 2013 - 14

More recently, in Term 6, we have been out and about looking at our school grounds both inside and out. We have identified which parts we really like and which areas need a bit of development. Please look at the display in the School Library area. Let us know if there is anything you would like us to add.

During Term 5 we prepared some questions and helped to interview a new teacher for Year 2 for September. We talked about the answers each person gave and then fed back our thoughts to the interview panel.

In Term 4 we organised a Bring and Buy Sale to raise money for ZANE, a charity in Zimbabwe helping children born with club foot. We managed to raise lots of money, enough for two operations, and there was some money left over to buy some new toys for the playground.

The School Council helped to set up the tables with generously donated children's books, toys and DVDs. Each class visited in turn and we had fun selling the things and collecting up the money! There are some photos in the 'gallery.'

We have chosen some things from a catalogue which will hopefully be delivered very soon.

In Term 3 we got some new School Council members from our Early Years classes. Welcome to Adam and Alice from Orange Class, and Izzy and Finn from Yellow Class.

We decided that after half term we are going to run a Bring and Buy sale with toys, books and DVDs. We are trying to raise money for children in Zimbabwe who are born with club foot. We are also going to split the money so that we can also buy some new toys for the playground and our outside areas.

During Term 2, the School Council decided that they would like the school to take part and raise money for Children in Need.

They had the idea to 'Dress Up Spotty' on Friday 15th November; we had spotty faces, hair and clothes! Have a look at the pictures in the gallery.

Even the mums and dads joined in by taking part in their children's martial arts lesson...in their pyjamas!

Altogether we raised a magnificent £234.09. Well done everybody!

During Term 1, we went to Build-a-Bear in Canterbury to design and make an Attendance Ted. We had great fun dressing him in school uniform and recording a message for him to say to the class who has the best attendance each week!

We also decided on how we should raise money for 'Children in Need' on Friday 15th November.

Letter below reads:

We made an Attendance Ted for school. He has 8 hearts because there are 8 school councillors. We all recorded a message in him saying, well done you have the best attendance. At the moment he has a tie, trousers and a shirt but soon he will have a Westmeads jumper.